this post was submitted on 15 Feb 2024
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Diablo 4's new mount costs more than the actual game (www.pcgamesn.com)
submitted 9 months ago by inclementimmigrant@lemmy.world to c/games@lemmy.world
167 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

And have we come full circle to god damn horse armor.

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[–] Etterra@lemmy.world 35 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Don't forget the people with more money than sense. Whales are what keep the microtransaction mechanic alive and well.

[–] EldritchFeminity@lemmy.blahaj.zone 31 points 9 months ago (2 children)

Except the whale narrative is largely a false narrative created by the game industry to avoid saying that the money comes from kids and gambling addicts.

Those people with more money than sense do exist and they make up a portion of the mtx money, but the vast majority is from people who probably can't afford to make purchases like that (but do anyways because their brain can't say no).

The industry has been honing these skinner box techniques for decades now - it's what they used to get people to pay a monthly subscription for an mmo they only play when they log in to do their dailies.

[–] Cheskaz@lemmy.world 7 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (2 children)

Jesus. I'm extremely ashamed that I've never questioned the whale narrative before...

Thank you!

[–] goetzit@lemmy.world 4 points 9 months ago

Yeah man I know a lot of guys who drop money on shit like this. None of them are “whales”, but i know they’ve dropped hundreds if not thousands on this mtx bs. None of them own homes (which is kinda normal as we are in our 20’s), but only a few of them are even living on their own at all. Something is clearly going on psychologically there, if someone is willing to forego their own needs for cosmetics (that they will later replace with new cosmetics they bought!!)

[–] EldritchFeminity@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 points 9 months ago

I never really thought about it beyond the obvious loot box gambling addiction thing, but after I saw somebody talking about how daily quests in games like WoW do the exact same thing as daily login bonuses and keep you logging in every day to create a habit that'll keep you logging in whether you still enjoy the game or not, and how battlepasses and rotating cosmetic stores are designed to prey upon FOMO and people with poor impulse control, I can't stop seeing how the industry runs on exploiting vulnerable people at every turn.

[–] TwilightVulpine@lemmy.world 2 points 9 months ago

The term whale even came from actual casino gambling originally, so that definitely doesn't help the moral purity of their business.